FILM REVIEW: The Ghost & The Whale

In film, there are blockbusters and then there are ‘indie films’; those that are produced with limited budgets but that are limitless in heart. And here’s a secret; Indie films are often the better movies; sometimes, the much, much better movies; ala: American Beauty, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Juno, Donnie Darko, Reservoir Dogs, and the list goes on and on. They have one thing in common; a connecting thread; they were all once inconspicuous, independently made passion projects. And thank the cinema Gods for them and their creators. Some of these films haunt us, others inspire us and then there are those films that call to us, not merely to experience them, but to solve them; enter The Ghost & The Whale, their third feature length film, by brothers James and Anthony Gaudioso; aka: The Gaudioso Twins.

To say that The Ghost & The Whale is about bi-polar disorder or small town mentality or a combination of both, is simplistic and cliché at best. It would also be 100% wrong. The Ghost & The Whale is a film of originality and daring boldness, that’s brought to life by directors who understand its every psychological undercurrent, who know how to create a mood through camera placement, cinematography and movement. Within minutes, the world of The Ghost and The Whale envelops you, and it begins with the corkscrew of a narrative, written by Anthony Gaudioso.

The film unravels the story of Joseph Hawthorne, (Maurice Benard), a bi-polar man, who took his wife, Annabel on a romantic boat ride, only to return alone. No one knows how Annabelle truly met her end, least of all Joseph himself. Her disappearance, divides the small town of Bodega Bay. It is an emotional film that leaves you thinking hard about life, lost potential, and desiring to understand things, which we cannot, long after the credits roll.

The story picks up one year after Annabel’s disappearance. Journalist Ed Hale, (James Gaudioso) has been summoned to Bodega Bay, by Joseph, to hear his side of the story. However, by the time Hale arrives, Joseph has not been taking his prescribed medications and has relapsed into the bowels of the manic-depressive illness; alternating between severe mood shifts and energy levels, fear, paranoia, euphoria, mania, and his only friend is a Gray Whale, voiced by the incomparable, Jonathan Pryce.

The Ghost & The Whale, is set in a small town, and this environment is in large part, why the script works so well. Small towns possess certain characteristics that are addictive and understandable to a degree: they are friendly to newcomers—(but with certain expectations); everyone knows everyone; and they harbor secrets. It is this backdrop that allows the cast to showcase spectacular performances, which are imbued in small town attitudes, perspective and mentality.

Case in point, Anthony Gaudioso as Anabel’s surviving brother, ex-convict, Jack Lee, who has recently been released from prison, after serving seventeen years, on a manslaughter charge. He returns to Bodega Bay to exact his own form of truth, justice and revenge.

Anthony Gaudioso’s work here is one of rippling cinematic muscle, that’s pragmatically cold-blooded and menacingly brutal. He throws himself into the part with unwavering conviction; donning 40 lbs., and working with a dialect coach, to perfectly master the speech of someone who has had their tongue cut with a ‘dirty shiv’. When he whispers, “I’m gonna bleed you out,” to Joseph, we have no doubt if he will do it, but rather when. Playing this madman seems to have energized Gaudioso and opened up the dark channels of his talent. His shaved head, ominous demeanor and ashen face seem like a wound where his very state of mind bleeds onto the screen. His performance is mesmerizing, gripping you like a vice, fingers around your throat, and never letting you go.

Kelly Flynn is Dusty Lee, friend of Anabel, true believer in Joseph’s guilt, and she is fantastic, as the embodiment of small town virtues, or lack thereof. Although never mentioned, one feels that she was once the popular girl of days gone by, but has resigned herself to that dark underbelly of ‘small town’ life that she will never escape; but, then again, she doesn’t seem to want to. There is a simmering bitterness that evokes not just our distaste, but paradoxically, our sympathy as well.

A central character, is investigative journalist Ed Hale, played by James Gaudioso, who is aggressively charming and believable, as the ‘city boy’ venturing into the ‘small town’ to find a story, he is not meant to uncover. Torn between the obligation to his writing career and a dawning understanding of the small town code of ethics, he creates complications, with tragic results.

As the film progresses, we get a glimpse of what bi-polar disorder is, how its ripples effect anyone who comes in contact with it, and the desperation of those who watch as lives uncontrollably tumble into chaos.

Benard is both poignant and raw, giving a very human face to a little understood condition of bi-polar disorder. He makes us care about his damaged character, and the beautiful cinematography does a great deal to convey his confused state of mind.

Ultimately, the success of the story is a script that delivers sharp writing for an ensemble cast; and a film that delivers a story, not about how Anabel died, but about how each character is liberated from their previous conceptions—(or misconceptions)-- about life and about themselves.

Editors Note: To read my previous interview with James & Anthony Gaudioso, visit this link: LINK

#Turntable